By Fr. Jack Treloar, SJ | For The Compass | August 9, 2023
The story of Elijah’s experiences in the cave as it occurs in this week’s first reading presents two very important lessons for us who live in the 21st century. We discover how God works. We come to understand the importance of learning to listen.
When Elijah enters the cave, he expects God to manifest tremendous power because Elijah himself has been a prophetic messenger of this power to the wayward Israelites. He has been the hammer of God calling the people back to true worship of the one God.
So, he enters the cave with a certain preset belief. There was a strong heavy wind, but God was not present in the wind. An earthquake occurred but God was not in the earthquake. Then there was a fire and Elijah still did not experience God. Finally, there was a tiny whispering sound; only then did Elijah discern the presence of the Lord.
The importance of this experience for Elijah comes with his realization that God can cause wind, earthquake and fire as manifestations of power, but his real power becomes apparent only when he manifests himself in the tiniest of occurrences — a small whisper.
Our own time is an age of noise and commotion. We are surrounded by our own versions of wind, earthquake and fire. We turn on the TV first thing in the morning and only silence it just before we go to bed. If we live near an interstate, our lives are surrounded by the constant traffic noise of cars, emergency vehicles and semi-trucks. Interiorly, we experience agitation from the political situation of the world around us.
There is not much we can do to avoid the noise that surrounds us all day long and into the night. If we allow that noise to occupy us totally, we will never hear the tiny whispering voice of God. We should learn to carve out times and places that allow us truly to pay attention to God’s whispers. In other words, we begin to guard the silent times of our days and lives as precious gifts from God.
This brings us to the second lesson embedded in the reading. We discover that Elijah has to learn to listen in a new way.
Again, our culture does not help us because we are surrounded by a politics of loud voiced ideologies. These ideologies take the stance that I am right and anyone who disagrees with me is wrong. Such a stance comes from the failure to really listen to the other person and to respond in such a way that the person can understand our point of view. We create our own mighty winds, earthquakes and fires. This means that God’s whispering voice will never be heard. If we do not listen, we will only have the noise of discord and destruction.
Even though Elijah’s experiences happened centuries and centuries ago, there is much wisdom present in the text for our own time. God works for us in the silent spots of our lives. If we listen, we will hear the voice of God as Elijah heard it.
Fr. Treloar, an assistant director at Jesuit Retreat House in Oshkosh, has served as a professor, lecturer, author and academic administrator.
Jesuit Retreat House - Oshkosh, WI 